Does it come shorter if you go between iceland and greenland?

Someone is paying attention! ;-)

No, the distance is already by going between Iceland and Greenland (the arc goes there). The image is only for the initial idea - it was made with paint.exe (a default squiggly line with one drag), before looking at real life paths using arcs. Anyway, the Scandinavian peninsula is exaggerated on cylindrical projection that google maps uses (not as much exaggerated as Greenland, but still). A better way to look is in google earth. More like this? --

Snowden Asked asylum in Venezuela.
I only have link in French for now.

[QUOTE=firejuggler;345764]Snowden Asked asylum in Venezuela.
I only have link in French for now.[/QUOTE]

[url]http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/07/2013781938151574.html[/url]

No,no,no... Venezuela offered asylum, Snowden have now 'asked' for it,in writing.
[url]http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2013/07/09/le-venezuela-a-recu-une-demande-d-asile-de-snowden_3444527_651865.html[/url]

[QUOTE=firejuggler;345766]No,no,no... Venezuela offered asylum, Snowden have now 'asked' for it,in writing.
[url]http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2013/07/09/le-venezuela-a-recu-une-demande-d-asile-de-snowden_3444527_651865.html[/url][/QUOTE]

from the linked article:

[QUOTE]"We have received the asylum request letter," Maduro said on Monday from the presidential palace. "He will have to decide when he flies, if he finally wants to fly here."[/QUOTE]

[url=http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/07/us/in-secret-court-vastly-broadens-powers-of-nsa.html]In Secret, Court Vastly Broadens Powers of N.S.A.[/url]
[quote]In more than a dozen classified rulings, the nation’s surveillance court has created a secret body of law giving the National Security Agency the power to amass vast collections of data on Americans while pursuing not only terrorism suspects, but also people possibly involved in nuclear proliferation, espionage and cyberattacks, officials say.

The 11-member Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, known as the FISA court, was once mostly focused on approving case-by-case wiretapping orders. But since major changes in legislation and greater judicial oversight of intelligence operations were instituted six years ago, it has quietly become almost a parallel Supreme Court, serving as the ultimate arbiter on surveillance issues and delivering opinions that will most likely shape intelligence practices for years to come, the officials said.

While President Obama and his intelligence advisers have spoken of the surveillance programs leaked by Mr. Snowden mainly in terms of combating terrorism, the court has also interpreted the law in ways that extend into other national security concerns. In one recent case, for instance, intelligence officials were able to get access to an e-mail attachment sent within the United States because they said they were worried that the e-mail contained a schematic drawing or a diagram possibly connected to Iran’s nuclear program.

In the past, that probably would have required a court warrant because the suspicious e-mail involved American communications. In this case, however, a little-noticed provision in a 2008 law, expanding the definition of “foreign intelligence” to include “weapons of mass destruction,” was used to justify access to the message.

...
[u]Unlike the Supreme Court, the FISA court hears from only one side in the case — the government — and its findings are almost never made public[/u]. A Court of Review is empaneled to hear appeals, but that is known to have happened only a handful of times in the court’s history, and no case has ever been taken to the Supreme Court. [u]In fact, it is not clear in all circumstances whether Internet and phone companies that are turning over the reams of data even have the right to appear before the FISA court[/u].

A single judge signs most surveillance orders, which totaled nearly 1,800 last year. [u]None of the requests from the intelligence agencies was denied, according to the court[/u].[/quote]
Surely that last statistic is because all the secret requests approved in secret by the secret court were "perfectly reasonable" and thus not requiring of any judicial oversight.

Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame had it right in his [url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/10/edward-snowden-united-stasi-america][i]Guardian[/i] op-ed[/url]: the FISA court is a "kangaroo court with a rubber stamp."

[url=www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-03/security-enhanced-android-nsa-edition#r=nav-fs]Security-Enhanced Android: NSA Edition[/url]
[quote]Through its open-source Android project, Google has agreed to incorporate code, first developed by the agency in 2011, into future versions of its mobile operating system, which according to market researcher IDC runs on three-quarters of the smartphones shipped globally in the first quarter. NSA officials say their code, known as Security Enhancements for Android, isolates apps to prevent hackers and marketers from gaining access to personal or corporate data stored on a device. Eventually all new phones, tablets, televisions, cars, and other devices that rely on Android will include NSA code, agency spokeswoman Vanee’ Vines said in an e-mailed statement. NSA researcher Stephen Smalley, who works on the program, says, “Our goal is to raise the bar in the security of commodity mobile devices.”

In a 2011 presentation obtained by Bloomberg Businessweek, Smalley listed among the benefits of the program that it’s “normally invisible to users.” The program’s top goal, according to that presentation: “Improve our understanding of Android security.”

Vines wouldn’t say whether the agency’s work on Android and other software is part of or helps with Prism. “The source code is publicly available for anyone to use, and that includes the ability to review the code line by line,” she said in her statement. Most of the NSA’s suggested additions to the operating system can already be found buried in Google’s latest release—on newer devices including Sony’s (SNE) Xperia Z, HTC’s (2498:TT) One, and Samsung Electronics’ (005930:KS) Galaxy S4. Although the features are not turned on by default, according to agency documentation, future versions will be.[/quote]
"Security Enhancements for Android" ... one wonders just whose security is being enhanced here.

Note that the NSA did similarly for (or perhaps "to" is more apt) Linux years ago, although there the code in question was allegedly thoroughly peer reviewed.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;345916]Note that the NSA did similarly for (or perhaps "to" is more apt) Linux years ago, although there the code in question was allegedly thoroughly peer reviewed.[/QUOTE]

SELinux is useful. Iff you know how to use it. IMO.

[QUOTE=chalsall;345957]SELinux is useful. Iff you know how to use it. IMO.[/QUOTE]Seconded!

[QUOTE=chalsall;345957]SELinux is useful. Iff you know how to use it. IMO.[/QUOTE]

I'm sure the NSA folks who wrote the code in question feel the same way. ;)